Written Answers Friday 19 May 2006

Scottish Executive

Autism

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on professional level courses on autism for Scottish teachers in each year since 1999.

Robert Brown: The information requested is not held centrally.

Avian Influenza

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an increased risk of the H5N1 flu virus spreading to reared game birds in Scotland through the importing of game birds from Europe for release in Scotland for sport shooting and, if so, what measures it will take in order to counter this risk.

Ross Finnie: Importation of game birds into the UK from other European countries is done under strict EU-wide trade rules and is subject to veterinary supervision. As such this legal trade does not represent a significant risk of spreading H5N1 avian influenza and the Executive is working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that all sensible precautions to minimise the risk of avian influenza are taken. In particular, post import procedures have been strengthened as part of the process of minimising the risk of avian influenza entering the UK.

Drug Misuse

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is funding, or plans to fund, research into neuroelectric therapy as a means of assisting drug-addicted individuals with rehabilitation.

Hugh Henry: It is open to applicants from any discipline or profession to apply for a research grant through the Executive’s Chief Scientist Office (CSO). The CSO invests in excess of £49 million per annum in research to improve health and health services, including research into drug treatment and rehabilitation.

  Although grants are not usually awarded to voluntary organisations, researchers from voluntary organisations may be co-applicants for grants based in Higher education institutes or NHS boards.

Education

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many policy projects are currently being undertaken by its Education Department and, of these, how many are behind schedule.

Patricia Ferguson: The Education Department is focused on the delivery of 103 Partnership Agreement (PA) commitments. Only one will not be achieved within the specified timescale, Commitment 217 Promote New Deal programme for sports assistants. The focus of the UK New Deal programme has shifted and therefore this PA commitment is no longer appropriate. We are continuing to explore other ways of encouraging sports volunteering.

Emergency Planning

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources will be made available to Lothian and Borders Police in view of any increased security requirements in Edinburgh as a result of international terrorism since 2003.

Cathy Jamieson: Special Branch activity is the main component of the Scottish Police Service’s response to terrorism. Special Branches are funded mainly from within police Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE). The Lothian and Borders Police share of GAE has risen by £25.6 million (or 16%) over the past three years to £185.4 million in 2006-07 .  This will increase further in 2007-08 to £195.2 million.

  The Executive has also provided increased levels of 100% funding for a number of specific activities linked to or complementary to Special Branch working. These include force Counter-Terrorist Security Advisers, units responsible for co-ordinating the response to threats to national security.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to it of the tender process for the Northern Isles ferry services contract.

Tavish Scott: The costs incurred by the Scottish Executive in carrying out the current Northern Isles ferry tendering process include the staff costs for the core work being carried out by a team based in the Transport Group of the Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department, the travel and subsistence costs incurred on the tendering exercise, the printing and web upload costs associated with the consultation exercise undertaken in preparation for the tendering, the costs of external advisors appointed to assist in the process and the advertising costs incurred when the tendering process was launched. These categories combined amounted to an estimated total of £370,100 (in outturn prices) up to 30 April 2006.

Fire Safety

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25672 by Hugh Henry on 12 May 2006, whether the arrangements include provision for the costs of hard-wiring the alarms.

Hugh Henry: Yes, although if the cost of hard-wiring exceeds a certain threshold the owner of a private dwelling may be asked to cover the balance. Local authorities will meet all of the installation costs where their tenants are concerned.

Fire Safety

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25673 by Hugh Henry on 12 May 2006, whether the scheme includes provision for the supply of alarms with 10-year sealed batteries.

Hugh Henry: Yes. However, alarms are supplied following an assessment based on the circumstances of the recipient (including the degree of hearing impairment) and battery-powered alarms with their limited functionality are not suitable in all cases.

Foster Care

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25343 by Robert Brown on 3 May 2006, what the timetable is for the legislative changes necessary to remove the prohibition of gay or lesbian couples from consideration as foster carers.

Robert Brown: The Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill was introduced on 27 March and the timetable will be determined by the Scottish Parliament. We intend to deal with issues such as this, which require secondary legislation, following the passage of the bill.

Housing

Mr Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will authorise Glasgow City Council to consider applications from owner-occupiers in properties not factored by Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) for grants from funds currently reserved for owner-occupiers in GHA-factored properties, in order to facilitate the former’s participation in GHA-sponsored renovation projects.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The funding made available to GHA to support owner occupier costs was an integral part of the stock transfer financial arrangements, Communities Scotland will continue to monitor this programme however there are no plans to extend the scope of this funding to other groups at this time.

  The Scottish Executive is aware that there are a number of issues around owners affected either directly or indirectly by GHA’s investment programme and we are working with both GHA and Glasgow City Council to seek workable solutions.

  Glasgow City Council administers support for other owners within the City seeking financial assistance to improve and repair their homes, which is funded from Private Sector Housing Grant provided by the Scottish Executive. It is for the City Council to set out its priorities for this grant.

Housing

Mr Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage Glasgow Housing Association to expedite the reform of its factoring policies and procedures in order to remove current anomalies which are detrimental to hundreds of owner occupiers.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) is the factor of certain owner occupied properties previously purchased under the Right To Buy. GHA’s factoring service is provided by a subsidiary company, GHA (Management) Ltd (GHA(M)). GHA is an independent Registered Social Landlord (RSL), which is subject to regulation by Communities Scotland, in line with published Performance Standards. In relation to factoring, these Performance Standards require that RSLs are fair, efficient and effective factors for other property owners and manage factoring funds on behalf of owners in a proper and accountable manner.

  GHA has a significant agenda to reform its housing services and has recently completed a review of how all of its front-line services are delivered, to tenants and owners. Its factoring policy and procedures are currently under review by GHA(M), to reflect the changes which emerge from this reform agenda. This review will address, in particular, the way in which charges to owners are determined.

Justice

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23155 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006, whether it will provide details of when it became "a basic principle of Scots law that neither party to a litigation is obliged to disclose reports commissioned for the purpose of the litigation"; who decided to adopt this principle, and why it prevents it from voluntarily publishing these reports.

Cathy Jamieson: The principles of Scots law, reflecting its common law tradition, have been developed and refined over time through case law. Relevant cases in this instance include Young v National Coal Board 1957 SLT 266, Johnstone v National Coal Board 1968 SLT 233 and More v Brown & Root Wimpey Highland Fabricators Limited  1983 SLT 669.

  I also refer the member to the answers to questions S2W-23155 on 20 March 2006 and S2W-25240 on 11 May 2006.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Money Advice

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many money advisers there are in each local authority area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The following table gives the number of money advice posts paid for through Scottish Executive funding streams in each local authority area in 2005. Local authorities also fund money advice posts through their own revenue streams. Up-to-date information on such posts is not held centrally and they are not included in the table.

  Full-Time Equivalent Money Advice Posts Paid for Through Scottish Executive Funding Streams, 2005

  

Local Authority
Full-Time Equivalent Money Advice Posts, 2005*


Aberdeen City
4.00


Aberdeenshire
3.80


Angus
3.43


Argyll and Bute 
5.15


Clackmannanshire 
3.00


Dumfries and Galloway
4.54


Dundee City 
5.00


East Ayrshire
3.75


East Dunbartonshire
3.00


East Lothian
1.00


East Renfrewshire
1.00


Edinburgh City 
9.00


Eilean Siar (Western Isles)
3.93


Falkirk
5.86


Fife
7.00


Glasgow City
34.00


Highland
2.22


Inverclyde
1.00


Midlothian
1.00


Moray
3.50


North Ayrshire
9.00


North Lanarkshire 
16.50


Orkney Islands
1.00


Perth and Kinross
2.60


Renfrewshire 
7.00


Scottish Borders 
3.60


Shetland
2.30


South Ayrshire
2.40


South Lanarkshire
12.40


Stirling
4.00


West Dunbartonshire 
2.25


West Lothian 
2.50


Total
170.73



  Note: *From Scottish Executive funding streams only.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for implementing the Modernising Medical Careers initiative in Scotland.

Mr Andy Kerr: Modernising Medical Careers will be phased in as specialty training programmes are introduced from August 2007. The length of the period of phased introduction will be determined by implementation that does not compromise patient safety and trainee careers.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to (a) the British Medical Association, (b) the General Medical Council, (c) NHS boards and (d) NHS Education for Scotland in respect of implementing the Modern Medical Careers initiative.

Mr Andy Kerr: The British Medical Association (BMA), NHS boards and NHS Education for Scotland are members of the Modernising Medical Careers (MMC) Scottish Delivery Group and are therefore fully involved in overseeing MMC implementation. There is also regular contact with the General Medical Council (GMC) which, in collaboration with the Postgraduate Medical and Training Board (PMETB), recently undertook an inspection of a pilot programme of Quality Assurance of MMC Foundation Training in the North of Scotland.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the Home Office’s new work permit ruling in respect of international medical graduates will have on the implementation of the Modernising Medical Careers initiative.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is committed to maintaining and enhancing the quality of medical training and this will not be affected by the Home Office’s work permit regulations that came into effect on 3 April 2006. The Executive will monitor the impact of the changes to Home Office work permit regulations on training posts.

NHS Staff

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has set aside to implement the Modern Medical Careers initiative and how this compares with the amount spent in England.

Mr Andy Kerr: In Scotland, MMC implementation is being led by NHS Education for Scotland. NES have set aside £4.5 million in 2006-07; £5.7 million in 2007-08 and £5.7 million in 2008-09 for this work. There is no comparable national educational organisation within England with which to make comparisons on amounts spent, and Deanery administrative structures are very different to those in Scotland. Comprehensive data on amounts spent in England is not currently available as allocations to strategic health authorities (SHAs) in England for 2006-07 have not yet been announced.

NHS Waiting Times

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Inverclyde children were waiting for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant in a dental specialty following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner and how many of these were referred to (a) Inverclyde Royal Hospital and (b) Glasgow Dental Hospital in each of the last 20 quarters.

Lewis Macdonald: The requested information is not centrally available.

NHS Waiting Times

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the median waiting times were, expressed in weeks, for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant in a dental specialty for an Inverclyde child following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner in each of the last 20 quarters.

Lewis Macdonald: The requested information is presented in the following table.

  Table 1 – Median Waiting Times in Weeks for a First Out-Patient Appointment Following Referral by a General Medical or Dental Practitioner to Consultants in a Dental Specialty. Children (0 to 14 years of age) Resident in Inverclyde Local Council Area. Quarters Ending 31 March 2001 to 31 December 2005.

  

Quarter
Median Wait


March 2001
11


June 2001
9


September 2001
9


December 2001
8


March 2002
7


June 2002
10


September 2002
11


December 2002
12


March 2003
12


June 2003
11


September 2003
10


December 2003
11


March 2004
10


June 2004
11


September 2004
18


December 2004
24


March 2005
24


June 2005
17


September 2005
6


December 2005P
6



  PProvisional.

  Source: SMR00, ISD Scotland.

  Notes: 1 Median waiting times are expressed as whole weeks.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for recycling in the NHS.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage NHS boards to provide recycling facilities for plastic bottles.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has implemented a recycling strategy for the NHS.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidelines are in place for recycling within the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: In recognition of the need to ensure NHSScotland Bodies comply with the Scottish Executive’s principles and policies on sustainable development, the Scottish Executive Health Department’s recently revised Environmental Management Policy for NHSScotland NHSHDL(2006)21 requires NHSScotland Bodies to set year-on-year targets for increasing the amounts of waste designated for re-use, recycling or recovery. These targets are required to be set by individual boards, in accordance with EU, UK and Scottish Executive legislation, to contribute to the Executive’s National Waste Plan which aims to achieve a national target of 25% recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2006 and 55% by 2020.

  Operational guidance on the management and disposal of clinical and domestic waste is provided to NHSScotland by Health Facilities Scotland.

  NHSScotland has long been recognised as a leader in the field on environmental management which has been widely recognised elsewhere in the UK and more recently by the European Health Property Network.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the way in which funding allocated to support recycling and improve recycling facilities in the NHS is spent.

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to each NHS board in each of the last five years to (a) support recycling, (b) improve recycling facilities and (c) minimise waste.

Mr Andy Kerr: The funding of recycling initiatives is a matter of local NHS board policy and no central monitoring is undertaken on the way in which funds are allocated.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the levels of recycling are for each NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: This is a matter for NHSScotland Bodies. The information requested is not held centrally.

National Health Service

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much waste was produced by the NHS in the last 10 years, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: Data on how much waste was produced by NHSScotland over the last 10 years by NHS board is not available. However, the annual NHSScotland Environment Report has, since 1996-97, provided monitored data on volumes of clinical waste at a national level and, since 2001-02, both domestic and clinical waste at national level and also broken down by care groups.

  The annual Environment Reports are available online at http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/pef.

  The monitoring of domestic waste is difficult as not all healthcare bodies are provided with the necessary data by the waste contractor and therefore the data on domestic waste streams within the reports are based in part on estimated values.

  The national figures available for the last nine years are:

  

Reporting Year
Clinical
Domestic


1996-97
>16,277 tonnes
Unknown


1997-98
15,016 tonnes
>1,142,567 tonnes


1998-99
15,480 tonnes
Unknown


1999-2000
15,091 tonnes
Unknown


2000-01
14,321 tonnes
Unknown


2001-02
15,118 tonnes
>19,000 tonnes


2002-03
15,500 tonnes
31,091 tonnes


2003-04
14,784 tonnes
28,481 tonnes


2004-05
14,642 tonnes
28,562 tonnes

Planning

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals it has received in relation to planning applications for the erection of mobile telephone masts from (a) all local authorities and (b) North Ayrshire Council in the last year.

Malcolm Chisholm: The number of appeals received from all authorities in relation to planning applications for the erection of mobile telephone masts since 1 April 2005 is 105. None have been received from North Ayrshire council during that period.

Planning

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning applications for the erection of mobile telephone masts have been successful following appeal to Scottish ministers (a) across Scotland and (b) in North Ayrshire in the last year.

Malcolm Chisholm: Since 1 April 2005, there have been 71 appeals allowed across Scotland. Of these, two were in North Ayrshire.

Roads

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has given any consideration to trunking the A709 from Dumfries to Lockerbie and de-trunking the A75 from Dumfries to Gretna.

Tavish Scott: Yes. A route following the corridor of the A709 was assessed in 1996. It was not taken forward on cost and environmental grounds. That decision was confirmed by a recent STAG Appraisal carried out by Dumfries and Galloway Council.

  Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more information if required.

Correction

The reply to questions S2W-15523 and S2W-15524, which were originally answered on 11 April 2005, has been corrected: see page 8043 or http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/pqa/wa-06/wa0518.htm.